The Dormition of the Mother of God - 8/15/26
On Saturday, August 15th, we will celebrate the The Dormition of our Most Holy Lady the Mother of God and Ever-Virgin Mary.
The reverence of the Apostles for the Most Holy Virgin was extraordinary. After the receiving of the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost, the Apostles remained at Jerusalem for about ten years attending to the salvation of the Jews, and wanting moreover to see the Mother of God and hear Her holy discourse. Many of the newly-enlightened in the Faith even came from faraway lands to Jerusalem, to see and to hear the All-Pure Mother of God.
Readings for Saturday, August 15th:
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Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,
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who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God,
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but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men.
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And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.
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Therefore God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name,
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that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth,
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and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.
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Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.
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And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word.
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But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.”
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And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things.
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But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.”
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And it happened, as He spoke these things, that a certain woman from the crowd raised her voice and said to Him, “Blessed is the womb that bore You, and the breasts which nursed You!”
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But He said, “More than that, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
The Holy Scriptures are part of the Church’s Holy Tradition. Metropolitan Kallistos Ware of blessed memory wrote:
In the words of Father Alexander Schmemann, “A Christian is the one who, wherever he looks, finds everywhere Christ, and rejoices in Him.” This is true in particular of the biblical Christian. Wherever he looks, on every page, he finds everywhere Christ.
See Metropolitan Ware’s article How to Read the Bible for more on an Orthodox approach to scripture.